Tunisia Veterinary School Workshop

The day after our intensive community event in Mashreq Shams, we prepared for our workshop at the Sidi Thabet School of Veterinary Medicine. Tricia worked on the slide presentation for her lecture, while Jaber made sure the logistics were in order. 

Early Tuesday morning we drove to the school with our slides, tools, and high hopes of a successful workshop for a group of about 25 senior students. The topics were an overview of our project in Tunisia, body condition scoring, equine dental care and the basics of hoof trimming. Dr. Emna Brour, our cheerful new donkey welfare champion, joined us for the workshop and took many of the photos.

We laid out all our tools and the anatomy lab loaned us skulls and lower limbs. We had a very motivated and attentive group and a special guest - a donkey who waited patiently to be the star of the morning. Tricia spoke slowly in English and by the expression on the students' faces, she could tell they understood what she was saying. They politely asked thoughtful questions and nodded in reply to her comments. Jaber was always ready to clarify any confusion by explaining in Arabic.

We had a great room for the slide show and live animal demonstration

the quietest member of the class listens to Tricia with one ear

Tricia was a happy speaker with an engaged audience

After a review of anatomy and function of equine teeth/jaw and the consequences of pathology, the procedure of dental floating to reduce sharp points was explained and we passed around the tools. We used the donkey we had seen in Mashreq Shams with the severe tooth hooks and cheek abscess as a case presentation.

Jaber demonstrates filing the teeth on a skull

We took a break from the lecture format to have a demonstration and student hands-on dental filing practice with the donkey who was waiting so quietly.

Tricia explains the 'two finger and a thumb' technique of gently grasping the tongue to make the oral exam easier

the students were eager to try this new skill and were quick to be proficient at it...

and they remembered to make friends with the donkey first and that the tongue is not to be used as a handle

these young professionals stayed focused on the demonstration of floating

...and most of them had a chance to give the floating a try (Emna looks on in the background)

We gathered again for the lecture on hoof anatomy, pathology, and trimming. We had several good before and after pictures from the cases we had seen in Tataouine to demonstrate the importance of hoof care, and how easy it is to control overgrowth and cracks.

The students appreciated Jaber demonstrating the tools with the anatomy specimens and he explained some of the finer details in Arabic.

To finish up the lecture, we discussed their options for acquiring dental and hoof tools, including  finding local blacksmiths to craft tools at a reasonable price. We encouraged them to use online resources to look at dental and hoof tools and procedures as well as studying the fine art of determining an equine's age by its teeth.

When we moved back to the donkey for the hands-on experience, the students had not lost their enthusiasm for the workshop and remained very engaged in learning. Jaber started with demonstrating the trim...

 Then he provided close guidance as the first students practiced a trim with the nippers.

It didn't take long for the students confidence to grow and they were on their own, rasping while we stayed nearby.

We all had such a wonderful experience sharing and learning. Many of the students thanked us personally for the interactive workshop and gave us positive feedback. They liked the alternating format of lecture with hands-on work and they enjoyed learning something new while having the opportunity to practice in the same day on a real animal. The demonstration helped fill in the bits they missed due to the language issues. Ideally, in the future, we would like to invite more students and have additional animals to work on.

It was hard to leave but the students had to get back to their clinic duties and our guest donkey's teeth and feet were treated.

Shadi bids us goodbye and thank you on behalf of his classmates

We'd worked up quite an appetite, which was taken care of at a local barbeque venue. In the style of veterinary case presentations, complete with before and after pictures, here's a view of our lunch.

By this last week in Tunisia, Tricia has let go of her food hygiene standards...especially when she's hungry and the vendor has such a nice smile - she doesn't care if the meat was refrigerated or whether he washed his hands or when the last time the butcher block was bleached !

"Before"... (well, actually since we were so hungry, we'd already started before the photo could be taken)

"After"... coke, grilled sheep, sausages, bread and tunisian pepper salad...ALL GONE!

As we left Sidi Thabet, we had to stop the truck for a large herd of sheep crossing the road to graze in an olive tree grove.

We headed home with a very satisfied feeling - sharing skills with future colleagues, having a delicious local lunch and seeing a healthy herd of sheep enjoying their day - pure veterinary joy.